Exploring the town of Oberperfuss

Another glorious sunny day! Jim went skiing right here on the Ranggerköpfl; he said the snow up at the top was great and he had a good time. Until he came down the bottom of the Gondola (remember my ice experience yesterday?), it was icy there as well. There is supposed to be snow tonight and on Sunday, maybe all next week too. Today was rather warm, with the Föhn wind. I didn't notice it, it didn't seem windy at all. I am thoroughly enjoying this weather, whatever they call it.

I took a walk up the hills behind the house. I didn't take the camera or a hiking map with me. Two mistakes! I looked at the map and it seemed perfectly clear at the time which road I should take up through the meadows and where to turn to get back to town. But.....shades of yesterday. Anyway, I did make it back to town and did have a lovely walk. Saw some interesting things. Never again am I going out without my camera!!!! I found an interesting poem, written in Austrian dialect, but I could make it out. It was posted on the side of an old barn and commemorates the death by skiing of someone in 1940 and contains a warning to all to ski carefully. But it is sweet at the same time, not at all gruesome. Then I came upon an interesting wooden structure, in intact condition, alongside the road, with roof and all, evidently not in use anymore - it was obviously an old communal bread oven and I found it very beautiful! Then I found another grand spot - a tiny little chapel on the side of a meadow. I was intrigued so I went up to it and tried the door. It was open! How charming it was inside. Can't wait to show it to you, especially Chris and Jim. There was an inscription on the wall that said: "We twelve (then listed the names of twelve men) who served between 1914-1918 in WWI, all returned home after the war. While we were in the war, we agreed that, should we return to Oberperfuss alive, we would build a chapel in commemoration and thanks to Saint (Anthony?) We built this chapel together with the help of our families and friends."

Later this afternoon Jim and I went to Ikea and bought some kitchen supplies - a good chopping knife, a springform cake pan, a wine rack, a clock and a few other things. Then to another supermarket where I managed to find cream cheese and a jar of cherries to make a New York cheesecake tonight to take to Frau Balogh either tomorrow or Sunday afternoon.

People in Austria greet each other with "Grüss Gott." (It is a very Catholic country.) I was wondering if Atheists could say that, too. Jim says it's okay; that it's just a convention for saying hello. Anyway, today on my walk I learned another local way of saying hello. I said "Grüss Gott" to an elderly lady walking with a younger man on the path - she answered the same but he said what sounded like the Swiss "Grützi." I thought maybe he was Swiss. But later I encountered another elderly Gent out for his walk and he clearly said to me "Grüss Di," which I now realize is the local dialect way of saying what in high German is "Grüss Dich," or "Greetings to you." There is no use of the formal "Sie" in dialect. I guess I will be learning not only more German but also the local dialect, which is fine with me.

Jim heard a woman speaking at lunch today and was so impressed with how good her high German was, he wanted to ask her where she was from. Uncharacteristically, he didn't. But I have heard that people from Vienna are known to speak an especially clean and good high German, so maybe she was from Vienna. Frau Balogh, who I think is from here, also speaks very good high German. I assume she must be a rather educated person. Tomorrow we will know more and report back to you all about our visit with Frau Dagmar Balogh, and what she thinks of my New York style cheesecake with cherries on top.

While walking through the town (which is really TINY) I found a hardware store, where Jim and I later bought beer and toilet paper - imagine, a hardware store that sells beer and toilet paper! Must be an Austrian thing. I also found the bakery, a shoestore specializing in hiking shoes (maybe they can help me with my hiking shoe problem), the ski shop, and a hotel with a cafe, sauna (open to all for EU 10) and a Kegelbahn (bowling lanes.) We can go bowling! I also passed by a farm with what I first thought were goats, so I was getting excited thinking Jim might be able to buy fresh goat milk for his cheesemaking. But they were bigger than goats, they had long faces and long ears as well as long tails. They were too small to be llamas. Alpaca sheep maybe?

Jim and I are sitting in our upstairs living room. We have set up a desk with our computers here. There are comfortable sofas and chairs, a TV, and CD player (please bring your CDs!!!) a coffee table, and a door to a cute little balcony. We have asked for better reading lamps, the lamps are too low and the wattage too low also. There is a caretaker for the house, Frau Schmid, who is very nice and helpful. She has already brought me a large ceramic baking dish and a carving knife, because I told her I would like to make roasts and there is no roasting pan. Today we bought beer and wine. I am drinking my first beer of the week. Es schmekt gut! Jim has discovered some surprisingly good local red wines (okay, they are from Sud-Tirol, technically Italy, where they DO know something about winemaking.) Anyway, we are going to start a wine diary - Jim has suggested I start a wine blog - but we also agreed that this is MY blog, and if he wants to start a wine blog he can. Well, we WILL be collecting our wine thoughts somehow, maybe in a little notebook, so our guests can all share in the experience and we will get a consensus on which are our favorite wines. This evening, for all you wine buffs out there (you know I'm talking about you, Fred Schiff!!!!), Jim is drinking a Gries Südtiroler Lagrein 2006. I think Lagrein is the name of the grape. They do have some obscure,to us unheard-of grape varieties here. Jim and I agree it is quite nice. Full-bodied. It is from Bolzano, Italy. Another thing you might enjoy knowing, especially those of you who will be coming to visit us and sharing in the grocery expenses, is that the wines are very well priced!!!

I am drinking my beer and eating head cheese. I have discovered a local cheese that I had to try, I read about it in my book about traditional Tyrolean farmhouse cooking. It is called Graukas, which means "Gray cheese." Okay, it is sort of weird, and it is stinking up my whole refrigerator, but it is also sort of interesting - you know how I like weird foods. It is a cheese made from Quark (also called Topfen here) which is sort of like a smooth cottage cheese. Graukas is somewhat fermented and sour, and partially transparent. Very strong taste, I actually quite like it. Barbara may be pleased to know that it is low fat. I had that for lunch. Ate lunch outside on the Sonnenterasse today also. Was there when Jim came walking home from the Gondola.

Bye for now. Sorry about no pictures. Won't do that again. Ciao.